Bilingual government

Principal of a Molokai bilingual charter school who urged the county to keep conducting business in both official languages, citing research on bilingual students' success.

Testified in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English that removing Hawaiian from agendas would be a step backward and urged the council not to move the county backwards.

A Molokai educator who said the county is a beacon among Hawaii counties and stressed federal funding cuts make local support for ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi critical.

A Molokai educator and cultural practitioner who shared her children's academic success and invited council members to a free Hawaiian-language class.

Said he's learning Hawaiian himself and described fighting with state offices over ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi translations of business forms.

Urged the council to honor its 2022 bilingual-government commitment and treat ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi as mandatory, not optional.

A Molokai educator who said treating Hawaiian as optional sends children the wrong message and asked the council to honor the voters' choice.

A Molokai Hawaiian-immersion teacher whose students got excited about civic participation — even running for office — because government documents exist in Hawaiian.

A former immersion student and Molokai archivist who said language can't be separated from culture and government, and asked the county to uplift ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.